Mary Johnston, a famous novelist during her time, fought for women’s rights in Virginia. It is thought that her lineage is connected to the NC Dames. She used her fame to speak up about injustice. In 1909 she founded the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. Her drive for women’s rights led to less royalty checks but she continued writing and speaking about the cause anyway.

The article that the Dames chose to put in the scrapbook was of Johnston and her success in writing about colonial times in her home state of Virginia. Mary Johnson became famous practically overnight after her first novel Prisoner of Hope. Her novel, The Long Roll, was considered the best in its genre before Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell was published.